Alice Austen Park

For most of her life, Alice Austen, a groundbreaking photographer, lived in the house now preserved on the grounds of this small Staten Island park. The old mansion, parts of which date back to the late 17th century, preserves a sense of old New York. The photographs displayed inside the house document the vast range of experiences in Victorian New York, including exciting innovations like bicycles being enjoyed by the middle class alongside quarantine stations in which masses of new immigrants were housed on the way into their new country.

The picturesque grounds look over Buono Beach, a peaceful strip of land bordering the New York Bay. Together, the mansion and waterfront make a lovely detour from the busy 21st century.